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Wildlife conservation continues to face the acute challenges of poaching, habitat fragmentation and human-wildlife conflict. Environment ministry executive director Teofilus Nghitila said due to Namibia's successful conservation methods, which have led to increased wildlife populations outside national parks, human-wildlife conflict has increased. "The situation is worsened by the current disparities in rainfall as well as the growing human population," he said in his end-of-year message.

Environment ministry executive director Teofilus Nghitila says 48 rhinos have been poached so far this year. The figure shows a decrease from the 92 animals poached last year. Meanwhile, eight elephants were poached this year - compared to four last year - but this still much better than the previous years' figures, which reached 27 in 2018. The ministry – in collaboration with various law enforcement agencies - set up a response team when poaching skyrocketed in 2013.

There has been an increase in the number of arrests made in crimes related to pangolin trafficking between 1 September and 30 November. According to environment ministry spokesperson Romeo Muyunda, 18 pangolin skins, 12 live pangolins and 146 scales were confiscated, resulting in 23 registered cases and 38 suspects being arrested. "These numbers surpass that of elephant and rhino arrests combined for this period."

Namibia's average criminal market score was 4.1, an increase of 0.2 since 2021. The country scored 3.5 on human trafficking and 4.5 in arms trafficking. For flora crimes, Namibia scored 6.5, and for fauna crimes - which would include rhino poaching and the linked trade in horns - it scored 4.5.

The minister of environment and tourism, Pohamba Shifeta, this week hosted a public discussion about rhino and elephant poaching at Ongwediva. It was highlighted that perpetrators of such crimes are part of Namibian society and are sometimes hidden by members of the community. The discussion was part of an information-sharing session by the ministry at the Ongwediva Trade Fair in the Oshana Region.

Rhino poaching in the northwest of Namibia has declined by 80% since it peaked in 2013. This is according to the CEO of Save the Rhino Trust (SRT), Namibia Simson Uri-Khob, who said that even though rhinos are still under threat, the organisation has been making great strides in protecting them in the northwest of the country. "Our tracking teams are dedicated and our intelligence unit is relentless in its pursuit of information that can be used to safeguard our rhinos, while our donors are supportive, which makes the statistics we have to share with you possible."